Art Museums Take ‘Hostile Approach’ to Push on Nazi-Looted Art
United States art museums are using “procedural defenses” and a “hostile approach” to renege on their responsibility to return Nazi-looted art to its owners and heirs, a new report says.
Singling out several prominent museums for criticism, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the report, issued by the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) Thursday, castigates major U.S. museums for “refusing to resolve claims on their facts and merits and by asserting technical defenses, such as statutes of limitations.”
The report accuses U.S. museums of failing to “live up to the spirit of” the Washington Conference Principles and Terezin Declaration, international statements regarding Holocaust-era art restitution, along with the Guidelines of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).
It also criticizes the AAM for having “failed to uphold and enforce” its own standards and calls on the group to withhold accreditation for museums that do not comply with its Holocaust-restitution guidelines. In addition, the report recommends legislation to “extend” statutes of limitation on Holocaust-era restitution claims.
The report contrasts American museums’ “hostile approach” to the manner in which several European countries are resolving Nazi-looted art claims
“Museums are central to a civilized society,” said Gideon Taylor, WJRO chair of operations in a news release issued by the organization. “The American museum community, while understandably an advocate for artwork to remain in public hands, must follow through on its prior commitments not to taint collections with art stolen during the Holocaust.”
In the same news release, Ronald Lauder, chairman of WJRO and president of the World Jewish Congress called Nazi-looted artworks “prisoners of war” and said it is “immoral” for such works to “hang in museums across the United States.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
